4/5 stars **** Formats: AUDIO, WAV / GIGA
One of the most useful features in GigaStudio is the QuickSound database, allowing you to search for suitable sounds in your collection by using one or more keywords. An obvious candidate for a sampler/database combination is a sound effect library, since this may ultimately contain thousands of categorised sounds that require rapid but accurate retrieval.
Hollywood Edge market one of the largest sound effects libraries in the world on audio CDs, and the Premiere Edition 3 and 4 collections, along with the smaller Edge Edition, are also available in WAV format. These collections contain extended QuickSound database information for GigaStudio users, although any WAV-compatible application will have no problem playing the files.
Both Premiere Edition collections comprise 10 CD-ROMs, each containing up to 100 individual tracks. Edition 3 includes a host of water effects, household sounds, doors, transportation noises, steam and machinery, rips and zips, crowds, and 'human activities'. Edition 4 includes many recreational sounds and also covers sci-fi, horror, scrapes, switches, airports and travel, wind and rain, traffic, various room ambiences, sword fights, cartoon factories and natural ambiences. There is a vast number of effects on these CD-ROMs and you can download full listings from the Hollywood Edge web site.
The recording quality seemed uniformly excellent, and finding sounds via QuickSound was a pleasure, especially when executing advanced searches such as 'phone ring NOT bell' or 'animals NOT (bird OR cat)'. When I used to create computer game soundtracks and sound effects, I'd have given my eye teeth to own these collections.
Since the CD-ROMs are also available individually, many musicians will also find them useful in other contexts, such as percussion. For instance, Scrapes & Switches (CD-ROM PE44) includes chains, wood and stone scrapes, iron plates, and a huge selection of switch sounds old and new. Other titles that might be of interest include Doors, Creaks, & Knocks (PE33) and Guns, Silenced & Bullets (PE40). You could put together some amazing kits using metal doors, rifles and switches, for example, in place of kick drums, snares and hi-hats.
Each Individual CD £45; each set £400, or £700 for both.
www.hollywoodedge.com